Reasons Why Homeschooling is Bad

Homeschooling means educating children at home instead of sending them to public or private schools. The concept of home school is not a new one. Earlier, most children were educated at home because only some families could afford to send their children to school. Nowadays, homeschooling has become popular in many countries for a variety of reasons. One of them is poor quality of education in public schools and also because private schools are quite expensive. Some parents believe that because they know their child's strengths and weaknesses, they can teach him or her better. Some prefer homeschooling so as to prevent their children from getting into a bad company. There is another group of people who opt to educate their children at home because they want them to learn morals and values of the family and also their religious beliefs. They also think that homeschooling their children would help in development of strong family bonds.

Homeschooling may promise all these good things, however let's look at some of the negative reasons of homeschooling on both students as well as parents.

For Parents

Homeschooling children is a full time job and not fit for parents who have their own careers to concentrate on. If you want to teach your kids at home, your ambitions and aspirations will have to take a back seat. It takes a lot of time and dedication from the parents' side to make homeschooling a success. Other family members and household responsibilities may also be affected, as one has to give their full attention to the needs of their children.

A parent may have high educational qualifications, but that does not make him or her a good teacher. Teaching is an art, which requires the ability to understand the needs of the children. It is likely that the parent might have forgotten what she has learned, and the curriculum of the children would also be different. This would make it difficult for the parents to explain the concepts to their children, whereas in schools the teachers are trained to do so. Parents also have the responsibility of designing the curriculum of students and assess their performance.

For Children

In today's world, competition is seen in every field, and school prepares children to face these competitions. However, homeschooling does not give the children a chance to compete with other kids. They will also not be aware of where they stand (educational position) amongst their peer groups. This may affect their future lives, making them incompetent to survive the cut throat competitions they will be facing in their careers.

Academic education is not the only thing for which the children need to become successful human beings. It is necessary that they learn to interact and communicate in the society, and public school provides them with such an environment, where they meet many people. Friendships formed in school are necessary for them, so that they learn the importance of sharing and being there for one another.

Parents may experience difficulty in teaching special children, who need help from teachers who are trained to teach such kids.

Schools provide children with a chance to indulge in various extra curricular activities to enhance their overall development. Children who are taught in home schools have to be taken to hobby classes by parents, which is like spending money and time for something that is available for free.

Children may not get many facilities (computers, library,etc) at a home school, if the families financial condition is not good. This may hinder the child's education. Some colleges may prefer taking a school educated student for certain career courses rather than one educated at home, and thus may affect the child's future career.

It is true that homeschooling has many benefits, however, one must realize that school teaches children skills to face and survive, the trials and tribulations of life.